More than 10,000 visit Rocky Mountain National Park during reopening weekend

Oct. 14, 2013

More than 10,000 people visited Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend after reopening. / Stephen Meyers/The Coloradoan

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An estimated 10,204 people visited Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend after the state of Colorado stepped up to pay for the park’s operations.

The two major east-side park entrances — Beaver Meadows and Fall River — saw 2,039 and 1,193 vehicles, respectively, on Saturday and Sunday.

The Grand Lake Entrance on the west side of the park had 642 vehicles Saturday and Sunday.

Visitor numbers are based on a nonscientific person-per-vehicle formula, said park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson. This count does not include park visitors who might have recreated in the park in other popular locations such as Lumpy Ridge Trailhead, Lily Lake, Longs Peak, Wild Basin and East Inlet Trailhead.

The National Park Service and Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Friday that an agreement had been reached to reopen the park while the federal government is partially shut down.

The state will pay $40,300 a day to the park service to fund the personnel needed to manage the park until Oct. 20, according to the governor’s office. The agreement includes plowing and reopening Trail Ridge Road to provide access to Estes Park.

Most of the park’s popular destinations for this time of year are open, including Bear Lake Road, Moraine Park, Horseshoe Park and the section of Trail Ridge Road along the Kawuneeche Valley.

While Rocky Mountain National Park has reopened, Colorado’s other national parks — Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes — remain closed.